Finding a way to forecast what characteristics make a fast growing company would be useful, both for companies trying to succeed and for investment companies wanting to make successful investments. This thesis aims to develop a model describing the relationship between 9 chosen characteristics, based on real data from 2015 concerning companies that were rewarded with a DI Gasell in 2018. The final result show that half of the variables chosen to form the model have little to no relationship with the response variable EBIT margin. However, the final model consists of four variables that with statistic significance correlates with the response variable. The explanatory level is low and implies that forecasting companies growth probably can’t be done using this model. The four regressors that correlate with EBIT margin are Year of Incorporation, Operatingrevenue, Number of subsidiaries & SNI code. Although a forecast can’t be performed other insight are obtained from the research. Companies with SNI code 4, which corresponds to operating in the economic sector, affects EBIT margin in a more positive way than other sectors. Number of subsidiaries correlates fairly linearly with the response variable. Contradictory to previous research CEO characteristics are shown to be the least important factor contributing to profitability. / Att hitta ett sätt att förutspå vilka egenskaper som skapar ett snabbväxande företag kan vara användbart, både för företag som vill växa men också för investeringsbolag som letar efter gynnsamma investeringar med bra avkastning. Denna avhandling strävar efter att utveckla en modell som beskriver relationen mellan 9 utvalda variabler, baserat på data från år 2015 gällande företag som 2018 tilldelades utmärkelsen ”DI Gasell”. Den slutgiltiga modellen visar att hälften av regressorerna statistiskt signifikant påverkar responsvariabeln EBIT-marginal. Förklaringsgraden för modellen är låg, vilket antyder att sambanden inte är starka nog att kunna förutspå vilka företag som kommer att bli ”DI Gasell” med denna modell. De fyra regressorer som påverkar EBIT-marginalen mest är registreringsår, omsättning, antal dotterbolag och SNI-kod. Trots modellens låga förklaringsvärde kan andra slutsatser dras av undersökningen. Företag i ekonomisektorn påverkar EBIT-marginalen mer positivt än företag inom andra sektorer. Antal dotterbolag korrelerar relativt linjärt med respons variabeln. Till motsats från tidigare studier visar avhandlingen att ålder och kön på VD inte påverkar lönsamheten.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are a popular way of growing a company. This is challenged by previous research that shows that an M&A-transaction generally harms the financial key metrics of the acquiring company. The main focus of this report is to examine if there is an effect on financial ratios for Scandinavian companies partaking in an M&A as an acquirer. The effect is captured by the movements in the key metrics return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), EBIT-margin. In addition, both ESG-ranking and underlying non-financial values, like if the deal was domestic or not, the age of the executives and board gender diversity, are looked at for a better understanding of what differences there are between the performance of M&As.  A database of Scandinavian companies acting within Europe was created containing the specific deal characteristics over a period of three years prior as well as three years after the deal. The statistical methods used to analyze this data were Wilcoxon signed-rank test, bivariate Pearson Correlation and Independent Samples t-test. The generated results in the aggregated dataset showed a negative performance of ROE and ROIC in the period after the deal, compared to the period prior to the deal. This result was also seen in the sub-set of foreign deals with an additional negative performance of ROA for the acquirer while the sub-set of domestic deals did not show any significant negative performance in the period after the deal. We found that it was not possible to analyze the post-period effect on ESG-ranking as the data for our included companies was too scarce. Our findings suggest, when looking at our certain key metrics, that M&A-transactions are not economically justified and that executives might be partially motivated by something other than economic performance when deciding upon an M&A. It is furthermore possible to conclude that the disclosing of ESG data has not been a priority for companies in the past and continues to be ignored by the masses which makes it difficult to progress academically in this field.

More and more capital is being directed towards the private equity industry. As a result, private equity owned firms make up an increasingly large share of the economy. Therefore, it is becoming more important to understand the nature of how the operational performance of firms change under private equity ownership. This study looked at how the operational efficiency in terms of EBIT-margin changed over a three-year period after a private equity acquisition in the Nordic market. The study found that companies which had an initial positive EBIT margin behaved differently from companies with an initial negative EBIT margin and therefore two separate models where created. It was found that in the case where the company had a positive EBIT margin before being bought by a private equity firm saw an average decrease in EBIT margin of 1.14% units. In the case of a firm with initial negative EBIT-margin a private equity acquisition led to an average increase in EBIT margin by 1.99% units compared to the reference data. This study thus shows that private equity ownership affects the operational efficiency of companies. Moreover, it shows that one should make a distinction between PE ownership in profitable growth cases and turn-around cases of inefficient companies and that the impact of PE ownership in terms of effect on operational profitability can be vastly different depending on the nature of the acquisition in this regard. / Private Equity industrin ser ökande inströmning av investeringskapital, vilket resulterat i att en allt större del av ekonomin utgörs av private equity-ägda företag. Därmed ökar vikten av att förstå hur private equity firmor påverkar sina portföljbolag under ägandeperioden. Denna studie undersöker hur EBIT-marginalen i företag förändrats över en treårsperiod efter att företagen blivit förvärvade av ett nordiskt private equity-bolag. Studien hittade en signifikant skillnad mellan hur företag med initialt positiv, respektive negativ EBIT-marginal påverkades under treårsperioden och två separata modeller skapades för att utvärdera effekten. Resultaten påvisade med signifikans att företag med initial positiv EBIT-marginal minskade sin EBIT-marginal med 1.14% relativt jämförbara företag efter ett private equity förvärv. För företag med initialt negativ EBIT-marginal påvisades med signifikans en ökning av EBIT-marginalen med 1.99% relativt jämförbara företag efter ett private equity förvärv. Studien påvisar därmed att private equity ägande har en påverkan på operationell lönsamhet och att den skiljer sig markant beroende på ifall företaget initialt är operativt lönsamt eller ej.